Method of eliminating buried contact trench in MOSFET devices with self-aligned silicide including a silicon connection to the buried contact region which comprises a doped silicon sidewall

ABSTRACT

The method of forming buried contacts on a semiconductor substrate is as follows. At first, a gate insulator layer is formed on the substrate. An undoped silicon layer is then formed on the substrate, and a dielectric layer is formed on the undoped silicon layer. Portions of the dielectric layer, of the undoped silicon layer, and of the gate insulator layer are removed to define a buried contact opening. A doping step is carried out to dope the substrate for forming a buried contact region. A doped silicon layer is formed over the substrate. Next, a portion of the doped silicon layer is then removed to leave a silicon connection and a doped silicon sidewall. The dielectric layer is removed and a thermal oxidization is performed to form a thermal oxide layer on the exposed silicon surfaces. A gate region is defined by removing portions of the thermal oxide layer and the undoped silicon layer. The substrate is doped for forming a lightly doped source/drain region. Dielectric sidewalls are then formed on sidewalls of the gate region and of the doped silicon sidewall. Finally, the substrate is doped to form a source/drain region in the substrate under an exposed region of the substrate.

This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/065,323, filed Apr. 23, 1998.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This invention is a continuation-in-part application of an application filed under the title of "TRENCH-FREE BURIED CONTACT FOR SRAM DEVICES" filed at Apr. 23, 1998, which is assigned to same assignee with the same inventor as the present application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing processes, and more specifically, to a method of eliminating buried contact trench in MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) devices with self-aligned silicide.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

From the first invention of integrated circuits in 1960, the number of devices on a chip has grown in an explosive increasing rate. The technologies of the semiconductor industry has been researched continuously for almost four decades. The progress of the semiconductor integrated circuits has step into the ULSI (ultra large scale integration) level or an even higher level. The capacity of a single semiconductor chip has increased from several thousand devices to hundreds of million devices, or even billions of devices. The integrated circuits devices like transistors, capacitors, and connections must be greatly narrowed simultaneously to accommodate the continuously raising requirements.

The increasing packing density of the integrated circuits generates numerous challenges to the semiconductor manufacturing process. Every device needs to be formed within smaller size without damaging the characteristics and the operations. The demands on high packing density and low heat generation devices with good reliability and long operation life must be maintained without any degradation in their functions.

All the challenges and demands in fabrication are expected to be solved with the four key aspects of the semiconductor manufacturing, including the lithography, the film formation, the etching, and the diffusion processing technologies. The continuous increase in the packing density of the integration circuits must be accompanied with a smaller feature size. In addition to chip area and functional considerations, all the devices with smaller size must be achieved with simplified and reliable manufacturing steps to raise the yield and reduce the cost of products.

In the application of memory devices, SRAM device plays a vital role as a semiconductor storage cell in which the stored data can be latched without degradation. Typically, a SRAM cell is composed of bistable transistor flip-flops which can be implemented in various configurations. MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) field effect transistors or bipolar transistors are used in the bistable transistor flip-flops. The SRAM cell utilizes more transistors than a typical DRAM (dynamic random memory) cell which has only one transistor and one capacitor for each unit cell. With more transistors employed in forming memory arrays, the packing density of MOSFET devices in the SRAM array is of great consideration. The packing density must be raised greatly to include more memory cells in a single chip.

The buried contact technology, which utilizes doped poly-crystalline silicon or titanium nitride (TiN) layers for local interconnect, has been widely applied to the modern integrated circuits, such as SRAM and BiCMOS devices. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,423 to N. J. Szluk, a totally self-aligned CMOS process is disclosed. It is disclosed that the buried contacts or self-aligned buried contacts is one of the beneficial structures in improving device performance and device density. However, it is difficult to implement the buried contacts with some other beneficial structures like LDD (lightly doped drain), gate/conductor doping, and self-aligned contacts. The process complexity is increased and the device yields is hard to maintain. A CMOS process which incorporates lightly doped drain-source structures, sidewall oxide structures and self-aligned contacts is disclosed in the invention.

M. H. El-Downy et al disclose the use of polysilicon layer for local interconnect in a CMOS or BiCMOS technology incorporating sidewall spacers in U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,796. It is addressed that the number of metal layers formed on a given portion of a wafer is limited. Therefore, the use of a polysilicon layer for local interconnect allows the metal layer that was formerly used for local interconnect to be employed as an additional global connection layer. The use of a polysilicon layer to form device contacts also results in the improvement in transistor performance through reduction in device parasitic areas.

The buried contacts provide the electrical interconnection among gate electrodes, drain regions of the cross-coupled MOS transistors and source/drain regions of the transmission-gate transistors. However, the typical buried contacts has a major problem in the formation of the buried contact trench which interrupts the transistor current flow path causing device failure.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,806 to T. T. Chang et al, a method of fabricating a buried contact structure for SRAM is disclosed. The buried contacts are used in a MOS SRAM cell, which employs two loads and two cross-coupled MOS transistors to connect each gate electrode to the drain region of the opposing cross-coupled MOS transistors. The trench formation problem in conventional application of the buried contact technology is also illustrated in the invention. The resistance is increased under the reduction of the impurity dosage.

Y. H. Wu et al disclose a trench free process for SRAM in U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,437. The formation of undoped region or trench is introduced to increase the electrical resistivity or leakage problem. However, the conventional processes in solving the trench formation problem generally incorporate complicate processing steps. The efforts needed in fabrication is thus increased as well as the cost. What is needed is a method to form trench-free buried contacts with simplified process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for eliminating buried contact trench in MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) devices with self-aligned silicide is disclosed in the present invention. A simpler process than conventional buried contact process is provided with improved device performance and characteristics.

The present invention provides a method of forming buried contacts on a semiconductor substrate. The steps are as follows. At first, a gate insulator layer is formed on the substrate between isolation regions. An undoped silicon layer is then formed on the gate insulator layer and the isolation regions, and a dielectric layer is formed on the undoped silicon layer. Portions of the dielectric layer, of the undoped silicon layer, and of the gate insulator layer which are located on the isolation regions and on a portion of the substrate are removed to define a buried contact opening. A doping step is carried out to dope the substrate under the buried contact opening for forming a buried contact region within the substrate. A doped silicon layer is formed over the substrate.

Next, a portion of the doped silicon layer is then removed to leave a silicon connection on the isolation regions and on a portion of the buried contact region, and to leave a doped silicon sidewall on sidewalls of the remained dielectric layer, of the remained undoped silicon layer, and of the remained gate insulator layer. The dielectric layer is removed and a thermal oxidization is performed to form a thermal oxide layer on the doped silicon layer, the substrate, the doped silicon sidewall, and the undoped silicon layer. A gate region is defined by removing portions of the thermal oxide layer and the undoped silicon layer. The substrate is doped for forming a lightly doped source/drain region in the substrate under a region between the doped silicon sidewall and the gate region. Dielectric sidewalls are then formed on sidewalls of the gate region and of the doped silicon sidewall. Finally, the substrate is doped to form a source/drain region in the substrate under an exposed region of the substrate.

In addition to the aforementioned steps, a series of steps can be carried out to make connections. At first, a metal silicide layer is preferably formed on the silicon connection, the exposed region of the substrate, and the gate region. An interlayer dielectric layer is formed on the substrate, and a metallization process is performed for forming interconnections in the dielectric layer and on the dielectric layer to respectively connect to the silicon connection and the gate region, preferably through the improved contact of the metal silicide layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated and better understood by referencing the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross sectional view of forming a gate insulator layer, an undoped silicon layer, and a dielectric layer on a semiconductor substrate in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross sectional view of defining a buried contact opening and doping the substrate under the buried contact opening for forming a buried contact region in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross sectional view of forming a doped silicon layer over the substrate in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross sectional view of removing a portion of the doped silicon layer to leave a silicon connection on the isolation regions and on a portion of the buried contact region, and to leave a doped silicon sidewall in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross sectional view of removing the dielectric layer and performing a thermal oxidization to form a thermal oxide layer on the doped silicon layer, the substrate, the doped silicon sidewall, and the undoped silicon layer;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross sectional view of defining a gate region by removing portions of the thermal oxide layer and the undoped silicon layer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross sectional view of doping the substrate for forming a lightly doped source/drain region in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a cross sectional view of forming dielectric sidewalls on sidewalls of the gate region and of the doped silicon sidewall and doping the substrate for forming a source/drain region in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a cross sectional view of forming a metal silicide layer on the silicon connection, the exposed region of the substrate, and the gate region in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a cross sectional view of forming an inter-layer dielectric layer on the substrate and performing a metallization process for forming interconnections in the dielectric layer and on the dielectric layer in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A method for eliminating buried contact trench in MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) devices with self-aligned silicide is disclosed in the present invention. A more simplified process than conventional buried contact process is provided. The packing density in forming MOSFET devices can be increased with less efforts in processing steps.

Referring to FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 10 with a preferable single crystalline silicon in a <100>direction is provided. For different applications or specifications, a substrate with different crystalline orientations or materials can be used alternatively. An isolation region using field oxide isolations 12 or other isolation technology like trench isolations (not shown) is formed on the substrate 10. A gate insulator layer 14 is formed over the substrate 10. In the case, a thin oxide layer can be used. The oxide layer 14 can be thermally grown from the substrate 10 with a thickness ranging from about 50 angstroms to 400 angstroms. A wet oxidation or a dry oxidation process can be employed to grow the oxide layer 14.

An undoped silicon layer 16 is than formed over the substrate 10, on both the gate insulator layer 14 and the isolation region 12. The undoped silicon layer 16 can be an undoped poly-crystalline silicon layer which is utilized as a portion of the gate electrode. The undoped poly-crystalline silicon layer 16 can be formed by conventional chemical vapor deposition with silicon containing reactants such as silane or the like. A dielectric layer 18 is then formed on the undoped silicon layer 16. In the preferred embodiments, the dielectric layer can be a silicon oxide layer or a silicon nitride layer, either of which is formed with conventional chemical vapor deposition techniques, with a thickness between about 100 to 1000 angstroms.

Referring to FIG. 2, a buried contact opening 20 is defined by removing portions of the dielectric layer 18, of the undoped silicon layer 16, and of the gate insulator layer 14, which are located on the isolation regions 12 and on a portion of the substrate 10. The buried contact opening 20 can be defined by a patterning process which is well known in the art. A photoresist layer 19 can be formed over the dielectric layer 18. The photoresist layer 19 is then defined with a transferred pattern from a photo mask through the typical lithography process. After the photoresist layer 19 is developed, it is used as a mask in etching portions of the dielectric layer 18, of the undoped silicon layer 16, and of the gate insulator layer 14. One or more reactive ion etching (RIE) steps can be performed preferably to etch the three layers to form the buried contact opening 20.

The substrate 10 is then doped for forming a buried contact region 22 under the buried contact opening 20. An ion implantation can be performed using the photoresist layer 19 as a mask. Dopants like phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants can be implanted to form the n-doped buried contact region 22. The dopants can be implanted at an energy between about 10 KeV to 100 KeV to have a dose between about 5E14 to 5E16 atoms/cm².

A doped silicon layer 24 is then formed over the substrate 10, or namely on the isolation region 12, the substrate 10, and the dielectric layer 18, as shown in FIG. 3. In the case, the doped silicon layer 24 is a doped poly-crystalline silicon layer. The doped poly-crystalline silicon layer is also formed by chemical vapor deposition, and the dopants inside the silicon layer 24 can be provided either with an in-situ doped process during deposition or with an ion implantation of dopants. The doped silicon layer is provided for forming a silicon connection to the buried contact region 22.

Turning to FIG. 4, a portion of the doped silicon layer 24 is then removed to leave a silicon connection 24a on the isolation region 12 and on a portion of the buried contact region 22. The removal of a portion of the doped silicon layer 24 can be performed with an etch-back process with a covering mask like a patterned photoresist layer 26 to define the region of forming the silicon connection. A doped silicon sidewall 24b is left on sidewalls of the remained dielectric layer, of the remained undoped silicon layer, and of the remained gate insulator layer after the etch-back process, as indicated in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5, the dielectric layer 18 is then removed. In the case, an appropriate wet etch can be performed with hot phosphorus acid for silicon nitride or HF containing solution for silicon oxide of the dielectric layer 18. A thermal oxidization process is then performed to form a thermal oxide layer 28 on the silicon connection 24a of the doped silicon layer, the substrate 10, the doped silicon sidewall 24b, and the undoped silicon layer 16. The oxidization can be performed with a thermal process with the presentation of oxygen, steam, or both. Since the oxidization rate of doped silicon materials is much faster than that of undoped silicon materials, the thermal oxide layer 28 on the surface of the undoped silicon layer 16 is much thinner than that on the other regions, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

S. L. Wu (the inventor of the present invention) and his co-workers disclose the dependence of the oxidization rate on the implantation dose in the work: "Characterization of Thin Textured Tunnel Oxide Prepared by Thermal Oxidation of Thin Polysilicon Film on Silicon" (in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 43, p. 287, 1996). The oxidization rate of doped substrate is found to be more than twice faster than the undoped one, as the dose of dopants is raised to about 1E15 to 1E16 atoms/cm².

Turning to FIG. 6, a gate region 32 is defined by removing portions of the thermal oxide layer 28 and of the undoped silicon layer 16. The gate region 32 can be defined with conventional lithography process to form the patterned photoresist layer 30. An etch step is performed to remove the thin portion of the thermal oxide layer 28 and the uncovered region of the undoped silicon layer 16.

Since the thermal oxide layer 28 on the other regions of the substrate surface is much thicker, the thermal oxide layer 28 is utilized as a mask to prevent the buried contact region 22 from etch damage. Thus the buried contact region 22 can be protected in the etch process and the trench problem in the conventional approach for forming buried contacts can be eliminated. Under the covering of the thermal oxide layer 28, a narrow part of the undoped silicon layer 16 is left to stand beside the doped silicon sidewall 24b after the gate region 32 is defined. The patterned photoresist layer 30 is removed after the etch process.

Following the formation of the gate region 32, the substrate is doped for forming a lightly doped source/drain region 34 in the substrate 10 under a region between the doped silicon sidewall 24b and the gate region 32, as shown in FIG. 7. An ion implantation can be performed with dopants like phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants. The dopants can be implanted at an energy between about 10 KeV to 80 KeV to have a dose between about 5E12 to 5E14 atoms/cm² in the lightly doped source/drain region 34.

Turning to FIG. 8, dielectric sidewalls 36 are then formed on the sidewalls of the gate region 32 and on the sidewalls of the doped silicon sidewall 24b. The dielectric sidewalls 36 can be formed by depositing and etching-back a dielectric layer of silicon oxide, in order to form silicon oxide spacers. In the case, the spacer in the dielectric sidewalls 36 formed on the left side of the doped silicon sidewall 24b is left to fill up the space between the doped silicon sidewall 24b and the silicon connection 24a, as shown in FIG. 8.

Another doping step is performed to dope the substrate 10 for forming a source/drain region 38 in the substrate 10 under an exposed region of the substrate 10. An ion implantation can be performed using the dielectric sidewalls 36 as a mask. Dopants like phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants can be implanted to form the source/drain region 38. The dopants can be implanted at an energy between about 10 KeV to 100 KeV to have a dose between about 5E14 to 5E16 atoms/cm². The undoped silicon layer 16 which serves the gate electrode can also be doped with the implanted dopants. The implanted dopants can further be diffused and activated by the thermal process performed in later steps. Therefore, a buried contact structure with silicon connection 24a is provided without trench defects with the aforementioned processes.

In addition to the illustrated steps, a series of additional steps can be optionally carried out to improve the characteristics of the devices. Referring to FIG. 9, a metal silicide layer 40 is respectively formed on the silicon connection 24a of the dope silicon layer, the exposed region of the substrate 10 in the source/drain region 38, and the gate region 32.

The metal silicide layer 40 is typically formed by depositing a noble or refractory metal layer, such as Ti, W, Co, Pt, Ni, Cr, and etc. A two-step thermal process or RTP (rapid thermal process) is then carried out. The first rapid thermal process for annealing is performed to form metal silicide 40 on the silicon connection 24a, the source/drain region 38, and the gate region 32. In this preferred embodiment, a first step RTP process is performed to form metal silicide 40 at the temperature about 300 to 700 Centigrade degree for 30 to 180 seconds, by which the dopants in the junction regions 34 and 38 and buried contact region 22 are diffused and activated.

The remaining non-reacted metal layer is removed to leave the metal silicide 40. Next, a second RTP process is performed to transform the metal silicide 40 into a stabilized phase for providing improved electrical characteristics. In this preferred embodiment, the second rapid thermal process for annealing is performed at the temperature about 700 to 1150 Centigrade degree for 10 to 100 seconds, by which the dopants in the doped regions can be activated.

Finally, for making connections, an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer 42 is formed on the substrate 10, as shown in FIG. 10. A metallization process is performed for forming interconnections 44 in the dielectric layer 42 and on the dielectric layer 42 to respectively connect to the doped silicon layer 24 and the gate region 32, preferably through the improved contact of the metal silicide 40.

As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing descriptions of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is an illustration of the present invention rather than a limitation thereon. It is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The scope of the claims should be accorded to the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures. While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of forming a transistor with buried contacts on a semiconductor substrate, said method comprising the steps of:forming a gate insulator layer on said substrate between isolation regions; forming an undoped silicon layer on said gate insulator layer and said isolation regions; forming a dielectric layer on said undoped silicon layer; removing portions of said dielectric layer, of said undoped silicon layer, and of said gate insulator layer which are located on said isolation regions and on a portion of said substrate to define a buried contact opening; doping said substrate under said buried contact opening for forming a buried contact region within said substrate; forming a doped silicon layer over said substrate; removing a portion of said doped silicon layer to leave a silicon connection on said isolation regions and on a portion of said buried contact region, and to leave a doped silicon sidewall on sidewalls of said remained dielectric layer, of said remained undoped silicon layer, and of said remained gate insulator layer; removing said dielectric layer; performing a thermal oxidization to form a thermal oxide layer on said doped silicon layer, said substrate, said doped silicon sidewall, and said undoped silicon layer; defining a gate region by removing portions of said thermal oxide layer and said undoped silicon layer; doping said substrate for forming a lightly doped source/drain region in said substrate under a region between said doped silicon sidewall and said gate region; forming dielectric sidewalls on sidewalls of said gate region and of said doped silicon sidewall; and doping said substrate for forming a source/drain region in said substrate under an exposed region of said substrate.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprises the step of:forming a metal silicide layer on said silicon connection, said exposed region of said substrate, and said gate region.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprises the step of:forming an inter-layer dielectric layer on said substrate; and performing a metallization process for forming interconnections in said dielectric layer and on said dielectric layer to respectively connect to said silicon connection and said gate region.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said gate insulator layer comprises an oxide layer which is thermally grown from said semiconductor substrate.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said buried contact region is formed by ion implantation with phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants at an energy between about 10 KeV to 100 KeV to have a dose between about 5E14 to 5E16 atoms/cm².
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said dielectric layer is selected from the group consisting of silicon oxide and silicon nitride.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said lightly doped source/drain region is formed by ion implantation with phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants at an energy between about 10 KeV to 80 KeV to have a dose between about 5E12 to 5E14 atoms/cm².
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said dielectric sidewalls comprises oxide spacers which are formed by depositing and etching back an oxide layer.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said source/drain region is formed by ion implantation with phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants at an energy between about 10 KeV to 100 KeV to have a dose between about 5E14 to 5E16 atoms/cm².
 10. A method of forming a transistor with buried contacts on a semiconductor substrate, said method comprising the steps of:forming a gate insulator layer on said substrate between isolation regions; forming an undoped silicon layer on said gate insulator layer and said isolation regions; forming a dielectric layer on said undoped silicon layer; removing portions of said dielectric layer, of said undoped silicon layer, and of said gate insulator layer which are located on said isolation regions and on a portion of said substrate to define a buried contact opening; doping said substrate under said buried contact opening for forming a buried contact region within said substrate; forming a doped silicon layer over said substrate; removing a portion of said doped silicon layer to leave a silicon connection on said isolation regions and on a portion of said buried contact region, and to leave a doped silicon sidewall on sidewalls of said remained dielectric layer, of said remained undoped silicon layer, and of said remained gate insulator layer; removing said dielectric layer; performing a thermal oxidization to form a thermal oxide layer on said doped silicon layer, said substrate, said doped silicon sidewall, and said undoped silicon layer; defining a gate region by removing portions of said thermal oxide layer and said undoped silicon layer; doping said substrate for forming a lightly doped source/drain region in said substrate under a region between said doped silicon sidewall and said gate region; forming dielectric sidewalls on sidewalls of said gate region and of said doped silicon sidewall; doping said substrate for forming a source/drain region in said substrate under an exposed region of said substrate; forming a metal silicide layer on said silicon connection, said exposed region of said substrate, and said gate region; forming an inter-layer dielectric layer on said substrate; and performing a metallization process for forming interconnections in said dielectric layer and on said dielectric layer to respectively connect to said silicon connection and said gate region through said metal silicide layer.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said gate insulator layer comprises an oxide layer which is thermally grown from said semiconductor substrate.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein said buried contact region is formed by ion implantation with phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants at an energy between about 10 KeV to 100 KeV to have a dose between about 5E14 to 5E16 atoms/cm².
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein said dielectric layer is selected from the group consisting of silicon oxide and silicon nitride.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein said lightly doped source/drain region is formed by ion implantation with phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants at an energy between about 10 KeV to 80 KeV to have a dose between about 5E12 to 5E14 atoms/cm².
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein said dielectric sidewalls comprises oxide spacers which are formed by depositing and etching back an oxide layer.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein said source/drain region is formed by ion implantation with phosphorus or arsenic containing dopants at an energy between about 10 KeV to 100 KeV to have a dose between about 5E14 to 5E16 atoms/cm². 